Deposed Tunisian President Ben Ali Said To Have Fled Country With 1.5 Tons Of Gold

Not shares of AAPL, not freeze dried MREs, not shotguns shells, not even €45 million European pieces of linen in a suitcase... Gold. And one wonders why all the physical silver and gold is slowly but surely disappearing from the distributors: someone should really check the cargo hold of Lloyd's, Jamie's and Vikram's G-6 planes...and of course the extra cargo holds in the private helicopter squadron of that "other" Ben, elsewhere now known lovingly with the adjective of Blackhawk (f/k/a Helicopter).

The family of ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia would have fled with 1.5 tons of gold. It is an assumption of the French secret services, who try to understand how the day ended on Friday 14 January, which saw the departure of President and his family and the downfall of his regime.

According to information gathered in Tunis, Leila Trabelsi , the president's wife allegedly went to the Bank of Tunisia to look for gold bars. The governor refused. M me Ben Ali had called her husband, who had also initially refused, then surrendered. She then flew to Dubai, according to French news before leaving for Jeddah. "It seems that the wife of Ben Ali is a party with gold" , said a senior French official. "1.5 tonnes gold, that makes 45 million euros" , translated source.

Mr. Ben Ali, he does not believe his fall as fast. For proof, according to Paris, he recorded a new speech, which has not had time to appear. He would not leave the country voluntarily but would have been impeached. The army and the chief of staff who refused to fire on the crowd, have, according to European intelligence services played a leading role in the removal of Mr. Ben Ali.

The mode of departure of Mr. Ben Ali has also uncertainties. He seems to have found in the airspace of Malta, without a flight plan determined, stating that he did not, in his hasty departure from Tunisia, a precise destination. An Italian source said that the aircraft would not receive permission to land on the island. According to another hypothesis, the deposed president had left by helicopter for Tunis Malta, where he recovered his plane.

At least we now know that following the upcoming banking kleptocracy's
exodus from the US, Malta may well be the newest destination location
for every stripper in a 50 miles radius of Manhattan.

And like that Tunisia's official gold holdings (as per the WGC) are down by 23%: